Here’s an easy activity idea: When grandparents, other relatives, or close friends come for a visit, videotape them reading stories to your child. You’ll soon compile a nice alternative to commercial videos for those times when your child insists on watching something. It’s a nice way to keep a family connection even when relatives live far away. (This is also great if one partner travels a lot on business.) Taped stories are also more mellow than most commercial shows, and thus better for evening watching, when you’re trying to wind things down. If you have relatives who are good at making up stories, or narrating tales of their own childhoods, so much the better. You’ll be gathering a family archive at the same time.
I would never want to see videos replace interactive, live reading, of course. A tape of family stories, however, can be a good addition to the media mix.
